Studio News
Designer Rug Launch 2023: The Santorini Sunset
A second collaboration with the KLC x Sonya Winner Rug Design Competition
Sonya Winner Rug Studio and KLC Interior Design School organized a contemporary rug design competition. The result: a new Designer Rug in our collection .
This competition allowed KLC students to work alongside Sonya to bring their rug designs to life as luxury rugs. Earlier this year, we launched Alice Hislop’s successful desings, The Lichen Blue Orange Rug and The Lichen Greige Rug. Now, we’re excited to introduce the Santorini Sunset rug, created in collaboration with Cheryl Sanders.
The Task:
The KLC School of Design students designed a contemporary rug for Susan’s fictional loft-style room within her modern home.
Susan, aged 58-65, is an artist and gallery owner. Her vibrant personality is reflected in her colorful, playful style. Living in Hampstead, London, she is surrounded by creativity and theatrical residents. Susan balances her playful nature with a business-oriented mindset, thriving in diverse artistic circles. Her interests include art, emerging talent, nature, travel, and exploration.
The living room below is an interpretation of Susan and her Interior design aesthetic:
Cheryl’s contemporary rug design was inspired by Greek culture and vibrant Greek island color palettes. Her designs reflect Greek Goddesses, sundial patterns, and Santorini sunsets.
Sonya’s deep-rooted love for the Greek Islands made Cheryl’s designs resonate, especially her sixth sketch. The geometric shapes in this design echo Cycladic architecture, resulting in a luxurious rug embracing warm hues of Greek sunsets.
Cheryl’s strong understanding of the client’s desires balanced the color palette perfectly. She considered how the rug colors would interact with the client’s room. This approach mirrored Sonya’s design process, making it stand out.
Here, Cheryl explains the reasoning behind the colour selection in relation to the brief:
“Bold colours are invigorating, inspiring and uplifting. They play an important part in how we feel about a space, and in how we interact with a space. In designing a rug for Susan’s living room / work space the colours chosen were soothing, warm, cosseting colours whilst equally invigorating and uplifting. A look that would allow Susan to come into the room and feel energized, and motivated, whilst allowing enough space for thought and reflection, a space where nothing would compete for centre stage, but simply allow creativity to run wild.”
The creation of The Santorini Sunset designer Rug
After Cheryl Saunders won the Sonya Winner Studio x KLC School of Interior Design competition, we worked with her to create a luxury rug. Sonya and her team refined Cheryl’s concept into a design for our Contemporary Rug Collection. After finalizing the artwork, skilled artisan weavers began crafting the design.
The ‘Santorini Sunset’ name originates from the Greek Island Mykonos in the Aegean Sea. The rug showcases Cycladic architecture, including iconic cubic shapes, clean lines, and minimalist aesthetics.
Sonya adapted the shapes, embracing irregular outlines that reflect the Santorini landscape. This thoughtful adaptation captures the essence of Santorini and adds a touch of uniqueness to the rug’s overall design. The irregular rug shape is also a signature design feature of the Sonya Winner contemporary rug collection.
Santorini sunsets are known for their vibrant, captivating colors. As the sun sets, the white-washed buildings transform into blue tones, casting enchanting shadows. The iconic blue-domed churches, like sapphire gemstones, add elegance. Inspired by this, Sonya and her team curated a new color palette with these vibrant tones. At dusk, the Santorini sky transforms into a kaleidoscope of orange, pink, and purple hues. These colors create a magical ambiance, which Sonya and Cheryl embraced in this designer rug.
The final result is a new contemporary rug design titled ‘The Santorini Sunset’ – a beautifully bold modern carpet that has transformative power. This luxury rug design will havea striking impact in your home flooding it with positive warm colours and bold desig. It also will transports you back to the times and locations that evokes warm memories of tranquil holiday evenings, embracing you with a sense of joy and relaxation. This designer rug seamlessly brings the essence of architectural and beauty and natures warmth indoors, infusing your home with warmth style and sophistication.
Welcome the allure of ‘Santorini Sunset Rug’
Let the captivating presence of this irregular Designer Rug breathe new life into your living space. Whether you place it in a cozy reading nook, a vibrant artist’s studio or an elegant living room, this contemporary carpet design will become the centrepiece that sparks conversation and ignites creativity. With its harmonious blend of artistic vision, architectural inspiration, and luxurious craftsmanship, this designer rug invites you to embark on a journey of interior elegance.
The Santorini Sunrise rug is an additional colour-way to the Santorini Rug series. The Santorini sunrises are known for their calming, soft color palette, reflecting the birth of a new day across the Cycladic landscape and Aegean Sea. This contemporary designer rug design features gentle pastels of oranges, yellows, and purples, echoing the colours of sunlight bouncing off the Cycladic architecture.
Both the Santorini Sunset rug and Santorini Sunrise rug are a result of Cheryl’s and Sonya’s love for the Greek Islands at their most spectcular times of day; ‘Sunrise’ and ‘Sunset’.
If these rugs have inspired you to transform your home do request a free visualisation and we will show you how they will look in your space before you purchase – see here.
Do explore the rest of our Vibrant Contemporary Rug Collection here, and bring the warmth of the Santorini sun into your home now.
